Former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham famously said, “journalism is the first rough draft of history.”

This postulation has guided my career, a reminder that we are the flies on the wall documenting pivotal events in our communities’ history. The phrase has remained present in my mind as I have flipped through old newspapers to find background for articles, looking back at what came before us and hoping that decades from now, our work will serve the same purpose for our descendants.

As we set to work on this year’s Horizons edition, we reflected on all the positive change happening throughout Niles, Buchanan, Cassopolis, Dowagiac and Edwardsburg and wondered, “what comes next?” The year 2020 seemed the perfect year to shake things up, changing our focus from looking back, to looking for the future.

Absent a crystal ball, our staff questioned, “how do we know what happens next? It hasn’t happened yet.”

Philip Graham’s words echoed in my head — “journalism is the rough draft of history” — only now, we would shift our focus from chronicling history, to considering the rough draft of the next chapter.

Like any other story, we relied on expert sources. We thought of people, businesses, organizations and trends experiencing transformations. What does the future hold for those individuals? What does the future of these entities mean for our communities?

For many years, Niles residents have been apt to say the city has been “on the brink of a comeback.” A year ago, managing editor Sarah Culton’s column alleging “we are no longer on the brink of a comeback. We are right smack in the middle of one,” was quoted on social media and at ribbon cuttings, perfectly summing up the city’s progress.

At the turn of 2020, Niles Mayor Nick Shelton said we are no longer in the middle of a comeback — we are past the middle and at the tipping point. The question is, what now?

Our editorial staff spent four months asking just that of people throughout southwest Michigan. Our advertising staff met with owners of countless new and established business to find out what is next for their business and develop a way to share that message.

The result is 25 new stories that share the dreams of more than 100 people, and the hard work they are putting in now to make them happen tomorrow. More than 120 businesses are represented through advertising of all shapes and sizes, creating a tool for readers as they seek businesses and services of all kinds in the coming year.

While the magazine you hold in your hands is certainly not our first draft, it epitomizes Philip Graham’s words, chronicling how far we have come to predict our region’s future, truly serving as a rough draft to southwest Michigan’s history.